Infractus Divum
by Leishe
Summary: As summer reaches its peak in the real world, in the Magic Realm, things are just beginning to start. Yuta and Nina enjoy each other's company, Ayu watches Kaji's game with Tsujiai, and Akiho holds a grudge. What's new, you ask? Everything.
1. When we Last Left

**Infractus Divum**

** 1 **

_You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?"_

G.B.S.

* * *

"Nina. Nina Sakura."

The old man quirked an eyebrow at the young man standing on his doorstep. He raised one chubby hand to his chin and rubbed it thoughtfully, pausing for a full minute.

"Who?"

The youth looked exasperated, and he waved the bouquet of flowers threateningly in the old man's face. A glint of irritation passed through his eyes.

"I told you already…I'm here to see Nina, old man!"

Old man!

The resident gardener of the esteemed Sakura family was sixty-eight years old, had greying, thinning hair, and bags underneath his round, brown eyes. He had been experiencing a few back pains now and then, and he was ALMOST eligible for retirement…

But he was NOT old.

"What did you just call me, twerp?" the gardener shot back, putting his hands on his hips.

The young man leaned forward, still clutching the yellow daisies in his right hand, with a mischievous sneer on his face. He whispered the word mockingly, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"_Old."_

"Why you little punk—"

As the gardener reddened, grabbing the collar of Yuta's shirt roughly, the front door to the Sakura house burst open, revealing none other than Nina Sakura herself.

Both males turned their heads at the sound of wood banging on brick, and simultaneously forgot their squabble. The gardener dropped his victim, and the young man put on a smile, smoothing his clothes gingerly, handing the flowers to the girl.

She smiled shyly at him.

"Hi Yuta."

He grinned in return, loving how she said his name. "Hey."

As Nina hopped off the front steps, she paused to bow before the gardener, who was watching her interaction with Yuta with contempt. An apologetic expression graced her usually jovial face.

"Sorry for the trouble, Alder! Yuta's like that sometimes." Nina looked up to see the old man's reaction.

"Hrm." He huffed, tugging at the brim of his sunhat.

"Just make sure that—punk doesn't wander into my territory again! Why, look what he did to the chrysanthemums! Your grandfather is going to be infuriated!"

At this point, the by standing young man felt obliged to roll his eyes.

The girl held back a giggle. Alder WAS overly compassionate about the flowers. She doubted if Yuta could care less about 'those vermin weeds', as he put it.

She bowed again.

"Arigatou!"

Then, grabbing Yuta's arm with her free hand, (the other one held the daisies) Nina half-dragged, half-walked out with him to the gates of her grandfather's large estate, and into the sun-dappled streets of the Magic Kingdom, or, as Grandfather Sakura liked to call it, Land of Libera Subrisi, or the freedom to smile.

The two childhood friends strolled down the sidewalk, hand in hand, and not afraid to show it. Nina was wearing an enchanting smile, and Yuta, his trademark grin, which had a hint of smugness in it.

After a few moments of nothing but sunshine, breeze and footsteps, Nina broke the silence.

"Where are we going?"

Yuta shrugged. "Well, it's a nice afternoon, so I thought that we could go the park…"he paused, "You know…to, uh…feed the birds?"

At this, the short-haired girl giggled a bit. She raised a brow. "Restraining order from the amusement park again?"

Yuta rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't believe those people. They're the WORST stiffs that I've ever seen. I mean…what's an amusement park if it doesn't amuse you?"

Nina laughed again. "Okay, Yuta. Whatever you say."

The young man just chuckled to himself, green eyes aimed skyward.

**.0o0.**

The birds looked at each other carefully, each sizing up the competition. There were about twenty-seven grey pigeons in the park today, and only a few scattered bird-feeders. The old lady sitting on the bench had left an hour ago, and from there, it was every bird for himself.

A breadcrumb sailed through the air, all of a sudden, and noiselessly hit the cobbled walk. Instinctively, both birds dove for the morsel, fighting fiercely.

Seated comfortably on the bench beside Yuta, Nina flung the remaining handful of crumbs to the gathering flurry of birds, much to the young man's dismay.

"What'd you do that for? Now we don't get to see them fight." Yuta pouted in a way that the girl found rather cute. She slapped him lightly on the arm.

"You sadist," she laughed.

They watched the birds after, engulfed in comfortable silence. There were not so many people at the park at that time. After all, most of the mystic folk were attending to their work, and other matters. But now that it was summer break for both students in the Earthworld and the Magic Realm, Yuta and Nina had somehow found a bit of time to call their own.

As her honey brown eyes followed the strutting figure of a particularly pompous little pigeon, Nina found herself remembering her best friend, Ayu.

She put a hand on Yuta's, and startled, he looked at her. "What?" Curious green eyes probed her face.

Nina smiled softly. "Nothing. It's just that…Ayu and I used to do this a lot before..." her eyes drifted faraway, "Y'know…when it used to be just the two of us…back then, when she was…"

"Single."

She looked at him; this time she was the one that was startled. Yuta looked away from her, staring at the pigeons.

"It's hard…sometimes. When your best friend suddenly gets a life of her own…without you."

Nina blinked, not really realizing what he really meant.

"Yeah."

**.0o0.**

"…and that's another **HOME RUN!** By Shuei High's indispensable Tetsushi Kaji! What a man!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"GO SHUEI!"

Multicoloured drums were beaten happily, as the cheerleaders of the high school went out to do their routine out on the sidelines of the baseball diamond.

The announcer paused for a moment, to let the home team's supporters scream their lungs out for the baseball team's MVP. He took a handkerchief out from his pocket and mopped his sweaty forehead.

Beside him, his fellow commentator took a long drink from his bottle of water.

"That's some crowd out there, eh, Tetsuya?" he remarked, setting the bottle back down on the table. The other man just nodded in agreement.

"Hope Takani High wins though," he said. The other commentator raised a brow.

"Why?"

"Shuei's winning streak has to be broken sometime. And besides, there's no teamwork anymore. They're all relying on that kid, Kaji."

The other man paused, staring at his microphone for a few moments.

"I guess."

**.0o0.**

"Woohooo! Alright! GO KAJIIIII!"

Rio, decked in full sports regalia, stopped to poke Tsujiai in the arm with his giant Styrofoam #1 hand. The boy slanted his eyes to look at the boy questioningly.

"Come on, Tsujiai! Where's you team spirit? It's your best friend playing out on the field, after all!"

"Hn," grumbled Tsujiai, turning his CD player on full volume.

Ayu Tateishi, nineteen, couldn't help but feel a _little _overwhelmed at the extreme giddiness of the cat-boy seated next to her. Rio, a little more energetic than usual, had begged to go along with Tsujiai and herself to Kaji's game against Takani high, a school known for its prowess in baseball.

The girl frowned a bit at Rio, nudging him. Granted, the crowd was noisy too, so his screaming didn't make that much of a difference, but the problem was that he was changing form every now and then. They were receiving strange looks from several people.

She tried tugging on his silver hair.

"Rio…"

Poof!

She tugged on his ear.

"Rio!" Ayu hissed, "Stop that! People can see you!"

The kitten just stuck its tongue out at her mockingly. "I don't care! Nina's not here to punish me anyway!"

Poof.

"Yeah! You show them Kaji boy! You da man! YOU DA MAN!" Two rows over, an old woman glared at the young boy menacingly. And then, she frowned at Ayu also.

The girl felt herself shrink under the woman's penetrating gaze. _Damn, she must think I'm his mother,_ she thought.

Desperate, Ayu turned to the quiet young man sitting beside Rio. She waved her hands at him frantically.

"Tsujiai! Do something!"

Unfortunately, the dark-haired boy had his set of headphones plugged into his ears, blocking out all outer noise. He hummed a little, cocking his head to one side, staring out into blankness.

"TsUUUjiAAI!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, however. Beside Ayu, the cat-boy began to stuff popcorn into his mouth happily. Another batter stepped up to the plate. The game was going to get exciting yet again.

The young woman sighed, slouching her back. Someone had definitely given that cat too much sugar.

**.0o0.**

From where he was, Kaji could barely make out the small figure that was Ayu. She was sitting beside a smaller person, which could only be Rio, and on the other side of the silver-haired boy was his best bud, Tsujiai.

The air smelled of heat, sweat and drying grass. He sniffed and wiped the moisture from his face.

The game was beginning to start. All three pairs of eyes were trained on him, and Kaji saw Ayu motion to him. He grinned.

A flying kiss.

With the hot sun beating down on his back, the sweat drenching the back of his shirt, and the relentless, deafening screams of the crowd, Kaji felt a lot better than he did a few moments ago.

A loud voice cut through the sultry air.

"KAJI YOU PATHETIC IDIOT! GET A MOVE ON!"

The young man looked back and flashed a reassuring grin at the short, angry man standing fiercely in the shade, a little way from the diamond. The coach, Mr. Nakajima, did not hesitate to verbally abuse his team when he felt it was necessary.

The man flashed the finger at him angrily. "HURRY UP!"

Kaji jogged to his spot.

Beside the coach stood a young woman, her dark eyes on the game, hands clutching a clipboard ferociously. Akiho. She had seen that flying kiss that Ayu had given Kaji, and wasn't happy about it. It was widely known throughout campus that after the Ayu-Kaji hook up, the only person in Shuei High that was less than thrilled was her.

Kaji's childhood friend, trusted by his family and manager of the baseball team, Akiho just didn't understand why he had chosen the Tateishi girl over her.

She gripped the board angrily, nails digging into the wood. She glared at that little, brown-haired figure in the audience, waving happily at her darling Kaji.

Jealousy?

Negative feelings?

Pent-up anger due to stress?

Akiho was Akiho, and a grudge was a grudge, no matter what people called it. And in her case, her hatred for Ayu Tateishi would never vanish, regardless of anything that happened between them.

"SHU-EI! SHU-EI! SHU-EI!" The crowd on the left side of the stadium was chanting wildly, waving the school colours in the air, while the right side responded with a passionate cheer of their own.

"TAKA-NI! TAKA-NI!"

Under the pressure of her squeezing, Akiho's clipboard broke in half. Kaji hit the ball all the way across the field, and the runner dashed frantically to the home plate.

Home run. Shuei was the victor, ahead by one point.

The audience erupted, and the noise was deafening. Coach Nakajima jumped up happily, a wide grin on his usually sour face.

"YES!" he pumped a fist into the air wildly. "WE DID IT!"

Akiho smirked, and looked down at half of her clipboard. Slowly, she traced a finger upwards; to the next match they were going to play. It was about a month away.

Sighing, the young woman adjusted her white baseball cap, smiling brightly. The team was doing very well, indeed.

**.0o0.**

They sat in the shade of the tree in the park for a bit longer, enjoying the warm air. Yuta had bought a couple of ice cream cones from a vendor, and the snacks had long since disappeared.

Nina fingered the piece of tissue paper absentmindedly. The young man beside her just sighed, and folded his hands behind his head, leaning back and closing his eyes.

A few minutes passed in silence.

The mage-girl lifted her honey-brown eyes to the sky. It was a clear, crisp blue, with no clouds. She smiled.

I wonder if the weather is like this at home? I'd like to see Ayu again.

A bird hopped near them, eyeing the white tissue paper in Nina's hand curiously. Its beady little eyes scanned for food. The girl giggled.

"It isn't bread, little bird."

Beside her, Yuta let out a quiet snore. The young woman turned to him with a smile, and fondly brushed some bangs out of his eyes. He murmured something.

"Niaah…"

Nina smiled softly. "Silly Yuta…" The smile vanished in a few seconds. Her eyes took to the sky again, and she let out a wistful sigh.

_Ayu…_

* * *

**Author's note: **Well. Here I go again, starting another fic, even without finishing the others. (sigh) Baaad me. Oh well. I just have a few things to say about this chapter: Yes, this part of the story will have Yuta/Nina in it, and of course, Kaji/Ayu, but when Akiho is included, interesting things will start to happen. (Demented laughter) Of course, throughout the course of the plot, you readers might find 'other' hidden things that I won't mention. :D Comments appreciated. Please review! And bonus points for the people who are able to translate the title…into Tagalog:P 


	2. Stories

**Infractus Divum**

**2**

_There's got to be one good afternoon_

_There's got to be something I can do_

_Indescribable magic powers can make a song_

_That would make all this end_

One Good Afternoon, Rivermaya

* * *

The screams of rabid baseball fans vanished behind him, as Tetsushi Kaji walked down the surprisingly empty hall out of the stadium. His footsteps echoed off the walls, on which hung posters of other famous baseball teams. 

The young man took his cap off his head, brushed the sweaty bangs from his face, and smiled.

A great game, indeed. But like most of the games he'd won, (particularly the last three) that swelling feel of being a winner gradually began to shorten after each victory.

Kaji continued to walk towards the exit; he was one of the first players to leave, when hurried footsteps interrupted his departure.

"Tetsushi-kun! Wait up!" He felt a light hand tap his shoulder. Being the good boy that he was, Kaji turned and greeted Akiho.

"Oh. Hey."

She smiled up at him.

"Coach Nakajima's calling the team together…right now." Inwardly, he groaned. After gloating over the shiny new trophy that his trusty bunch of slave-dogs had won him, their slightly eccentric coach would take the whole team out to a giant ice cream feast.

"Are you coming?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"Er…"

Kaji felt himself getting uncomfortable, and rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly.

"I think I'll skip this one…I've got somewhere else to go," he said. A thin flicker of disappointment passed through the girl's eyes.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, then, with hesitation, "You won't tell the coach, will you?"

The manager looked up at him again, eyes mirroring his face. She sighed. "Does this…appointment of yours have anything to do with Tateishi?"

The young man was a bit taken aback by this question. He blinked.

"Uh…yeah. She is my girlfriend, after all—"

He was interrupted by the sound of a pencil breaking into pieces as Akiho crushed it slowly in her clenched fist. Her eyes darkened. Kaji blinked again.

"Akiho—"

Her thunderstorm expression suddenly morphed into a cheerful smile.

"No, I won't tell the coach. Have fun."

Her tone was icy as she turned her heel and retreated back the way she came from, leaving Kaji there; dumbfounded.

The young man watched her as she left, and when her shadow disappeared into darkness, Kaji turned back the way he was going, and let loose a burdened sigh. Uncertain, his eyes drifted to the full parking lot.

"Well…" he trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

Breathing deeply, he walked to the car he had borrowed from his father, unlocked it, and jammed the keys into the ignition. Kaji felt himself lean back heavily on the leather seat, as he pulled out.

In truth, there was nothing left to say.

**.0o0.**

A distant roar echoed somewhere in the darkening horizon, and the smell of rain filled the air. In the midst of the dark, gathering clouds, bright veins of light threaded through with each crackle of thunder.

The young woman with dark eyes put a hand to the glass window. It felt cold. Her gaze was trained in the middle of the sky, where the eye of the storm hovered. She uttered a few words.

"It's been a while…"

A shiver ran up her back, as the glass grew colder with every step of the descending curtain of grey rain. The clouds were coming nearer now, and lightning danced spiritedly amongst the black tendrils of mist.

She let out a sigh, her hand dropping from the window. As it did, the golden band around her ring finger shone for a moment, with patterns of lightning, and then, grew dull again. Her green eyes flashed as she averted her gaze from the storm, looking to her swollen stomach. Caressing it with her left hand, the young woman wondered why the child only stirred during nights such as these.

Her gaze softened as she thought of her soon-to-be daughter, revealing the face of a mere girl waiting for what destiny had in st0ore for her. Maybe the princess was not such a hard person after all.

Eyelids fluttered softly, as a door opened from behind. The hinges creaked.

She knew who it was.

"Lady Maya," intoned the maid, "The doctors want to see you now."

Unmoving, she opened her eyes ever so slowly, revealing fierce green orbs of turbulence. Gaze fixated on the storm once more, she heard herself speak in a curt, cold voice.

"Tell them I'll come down shortly."

"Yes, your grace."

The maid bowed, gathered her skirt and departed, shutting the door back into place with a mechanical thud.

Maya sighed, and then, quite suddenly, a contraction rocked her.

"Wha—"

Gasping in surprise, she held on to the edge of the window sill for support. Taking in short, sharp breaths, the young woman blinked several times, before calming down. Maya let go of the sill, and collapsed into a chair. One hand ran down the form of her stomach, and she wondered about the living thing growing inside her.

"Child," she whispered, "Why are you like this?"

Another clap of thunder shook the sky, and Maya closed her eyes.

_I miss the calm storms of Earth._

**.0o0.**

"Ne, Yuta."

"Hm?"

"It's raining. I think we'd better get back."

"Oh…right. Hold on, I'll get an umbrella." Yuta snapped his fingers, and a blue umbrella materialized in the air a few feet above him, falling down, and whacking him on the head.

"OW!"

"…ow." After opening it to shield both him and Nina from the oncoming torrents of rain, the young man rubbed his head.

"That hurt."

The rain began to come, pelting the concrete around them, turning it a darker shade. Pattering. Things began to get slippery.

The girl giggled, and pinched his cheek. "You're clumsy."

He rolled his eyes in return. "Look who's talking." Nina smiled, and looked at the greying clouds.

"I know," she said good-naturedly, "I'll never be as good as you when it comes to magic…"

Yuta chose to shrug this off. "Doesn't matter…no one's as good as me."

Nina arched a brow at this, which was very uncharacteristic of her. She folded her arms across her chest as they began to walk.

"Really now," she questioned, "Not even Maya-chan?"

The young man let out a snort. "Please. She doesn't even come clo—"

**RRUMBLE.**

"—I think we'd better go…"

Nina laughed softly. "Or what? Maya'll hit you with this lightning storm she's controlling?"

Yuta sucked in a breath. "Let's just hope it doesn't get to that."

Laughter.

Inwardly, the Kirishima boy smiled to himself. He loved hearing her laugh like that…especially when it was at him. There were some things about Nina that he just couldn't let go off, and her bright smiles were one of them.

They walked then, talking of small things, dodging puddles, and smiling to themselves. At one point, a strong rush of nostalgia swept through Nina like an ocean wave, when she remembered one rainy afternoon, walking back from school with Ayu…

"_Nina! Come back, you're going to get wet!" Ayu's voice faded behind her, as the brown-eyed girl ran as fast as she could from the school. She was expecting a call from her grandfather, and was already a few minutes behind schedule…_

"_Nina!"_

_But then, Nina Sakura wasn't one who followed the rules all the time. As her staccato footsteps ran up the road, the rain fell down harder, and in fatter drops._

_The girl looked up at the sky._

"_Nani—"_

_And then, she stopped. With the scrape of her heel against the asphalt, brown, honey-colored eyes widened._

"_Wow…the rain is different. It's calmer here. Not like in the Magic Kingdom…"_

_Her clothes were drenched by now, and water slid down from her wet hair and face._

"_Nina!" a voice rang from a few feet behind her, but it wasn't Ayu's._

_Her head turned slowly, towards the approaching figure. The person was running towards her with a closed umbrella, while another one shielded him from the rain. As he drew closer, Nina recognized his face instantly. A puzzled expression found its way to her face._

"_Tsujiai?"_

_He didn't reply, handing her the umbrella. "Tateishi told me to give this to you." He shoved it into her arms._

_Nina peered at him curiously._

"_Why did you stop?" Tsujiai asked all of a sudden, looking at the shorter girl with interest._

"_Stop?" she blinked._

"_You were going home, but you…stopped. To look at the sky," he explained._

"_Oh…it's just that the rain here looks different from rain in the Magi—" she cut herself off suddenly, reddening._

"_From rain in the what?"_

"_Uh, from…where I come from." She finished lamely. Tsujiai nodded. "I see. The pollution here in the urban area must affect the climate. Maybe that's why its different."_

_Nina nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"_

_The young man took a step back. "Well then…I'm going now." The girl smiled at him nervously. _

"_Okay. Thanks for the umbrella!"_

"_Don't thank me, thank Tateishi."_

"_Uh, right! Gomen!"_

_A chuckle from Tsujiai. "You don't need to apologize, Sakura."_

"_Er…okay!"_

_And then, she watched him vanish into the rain, before opening the umbrella to shield herself._

She suddenly felt someone pulling her arm a bit harder, and the girl blinked rapidly, letting go of that peculiar flashback.

_Tsujiai? Why Tsujiai? I was thinking of Ayu…_ Yuta interrupted her thoughts.

"C'mon. One more minute here and that gardener will lop my ass off with his clippers."

Nina didn't reply for a few moments. The young man glanced at her a bit worriedly, as water dripped off the ends of the umbrella.

She smiled all of a sudden, giggling softly. Nina's eyes looked at him with fondness in them.

"You're too much, you know?"

Yuta grinned. "I know."

**.0o0.**

The man who called himself Eli Drakel was walking around the streets of the Ginza district, in Tokyo, in the dead of night. Good-looking and nice, he was a nice catch for the ladies, and formidable (yet reluctant) competition for the other males of the neighbourhood.

Eli shoved his hands into his pockets, muttering something under his breath. He was on his way to a small bachelor party…and was currently running late. The man checked his watch worriedly, all the while hastening his pace.

As he strode past a bush, it rustled a little bit. Eli froze. _That was not the wind_.

Not taking his eyes off the little patch of greenery, the man hurried more. He wondered if that strange young girl who had been following him around for the past few days was hiding in the bush.

It rustled some more.

Eli laughed at himself. _You're being too paranoid. Relax a bit._

Suddenly, someone jumped out of the bush, grabbed his wrists, and tackled him to the ground.

"Aaah!" he let out a small yelp, as the pale face of the stalker-girl materialized in front of him, her blank eyes gazing at him longingly. Eli heard her speak.

"Here. Take my baby." Luna's voice was thick, and, lying down on the man she had been following for the last week, she help up a dried eyeball in front of him.

"Take him." She droned, shoving the item into his face. "Take my darling…"

Not knowing what to do, Eli started yelling for help. He kicked at her, but the girl was surprisingly strong for her age, keeping her pale hands clamped firmly on his wrists, pinning him to the ground.

"HELP!" Eli screamed, "SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!" Luna looked at him with a sad, detached look on her white face, and shook her head.

"Don't be like that…I love you—"

All of a sudden, she felt rough, strong hands grab her from behind, and realized that the man's calls had alerted several policemen, who were standing nearby.

"WHAT!"

Her face contorted hideously, fighting back the hands. Luna screamed and struggled as they tried to pull her off Eli, but one of the men hit a pressure point HARD.

"Eli!" she screamed, "WHY!" Luna felt herself plunging into darkness, as she was bound and dragged into a police car.

The victim lay sitting on the ground, staring blankly as the silent policemen drove away into the city, with the stalker-girl. Gripping the rough sidewalk, Eli shivered, now totally freaked-out.

"That…was scary."

**.0o0.**

Nina smiled at Yuta, who had escorted her up the front steps of her grandfather's house.

"Thank you for today, Yuta-kun," she gushed, eyes twinkling. Yuta smiled in return, bowing gracefully.

"'Twas my pleasure, milady." He said, in a false medieval manner. Nina laughed softly for a few moments, before her expression turned serious.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, for Tokyo." She said, looking at Yuta with her perceptive gaze.

The young man nodded, becoming emotionless. "I know." Nina let out a sigh. "I really miss Ayu-chan and the others, and I'm sure you do too…"

Frankly, Yuta didn't miss the people back home as much as she thought he did, but he nodded anyway.

"Yuta?"

His head jerked up. "Yeah?"

Much to his surprise, Nina's expression was cheery. "Would you like to come with me?"

Yuta blinked. What did she just say?

"Y-you mean to the Earthworld?" he stammered.

She nodded happily. "Yup!"

A few moments passed in silence, as the young man gazed at Nina. A small smile graced his lips.

"Of course I would."

**.0o0.**

"I knew you could do it! What a great game!" Ayu kissed Kaji on the cheek as a congratulatory gesture, and then Tsujiai grinned at his best friend. "Yeah, another great job, man."

A few feet below them, Rio danced around happily. The cat-boy looked up at Kaji, with an expression on his face that Ayu knew all too well.

"Yeah, yeah…we all know you're the greatest…now where's the celebration dinner?"

Kaji laughed at this. He bent down to ruffle the boy's hair. "It's coming in a few minutes, don't worry."

They were at a restaurant with Kaji's parents, who were looking very proud right then. His mother was all smiles, while his father studied the menu like a technician would a lab manual.

The teenagers sat together in one corner; Ayu, then Kaji, Tsujiai with Rio in front of him. The "grown-ups" occupied the seats next to their son's best friend.

"I wish Nina were here," mused Ayu, looking out at the glass window beside her, staring out at the night sky. Kaji put his arm around her, knowing how dearly she missed her best friend.

"Yeah."

Just then, the sound of bells tinkling reached their ears, as the entrance door to the restaurant opened. Ayu, who wasn't really paying attention to the incoming customers, jerked her head up in surprise as a familiar voice rang in her ears.

Footsteps were heard on the way to their table.

"Konichiwa, minna-san!"

The girl blinked.

_Nani!_

"Nina! Yuta! Back so soon?" The cat-boy answered all of Ayu's silent questions…it really was her!

"Nina!" She stood up to hug her best friend, smiling happily. The other girl glowed as well, looking at Ayu tenderly.

"Ayu-chan! I missed you!" They pulled into an embrace.

Yuta chuckled. "You'd think they'd been separated for years."

Letting go of Ayu, Nina greeted the other two people at the table. "Kaji-kun, Tsujiai-kun! Nice to see you both!"

Kaji replied accordingly, while (surprisingly) Tsujiai just nodded. "Hi."

A little bit puzzled from the cold-shoulder treatment from one of her close friends, Nina just smiled back, and pushed all thoughts of the quiet Tsujiai to the back of her head (where they belonged), and took a seat in between Ayu and Kaji. Yuta sat across her.

They grinned at each other knowingly; it was good to be back.

Rio smiled like a cat, sniffing the delicious aroma of freshly-cooked food, as the waiter brought trays upon trays of food to the table.

"Alright! IT'S CHOW TIME!"

**.0o0.**

He sat quietly after their arrival, not talking much, only exchanging a few words with either Kaji or Rio. Oddly enough, his appetite had disappeared shortly after Nina entered with Yuta, and Kaji's mother looked a little concerned.

"…oh, you know, the usual stuff. We went to the park, fed the birds—"

"That's sounds nice. You must take me there sometime, Nina."

"Of course I will!"

Tsujiai's insides suddenly felt like they were made of frozen lead, for some reason. Maybe it was Yuta's unnerving presence, or the fact that whenever Nina was near, it felt like butterflies were ravaging his lungs. Usually, they ravaged stomachs, but Tsujiai had always known that he was special.

He had to get out of there. The guy had been depressed before, and he recognized the feeling instantly when Nina had started talking about her wonderful vacation with Yuta in the Magic Kingdom.

Tsujiai rose. Rio stopped eating and looked at him curiously. Kaji blinked. Nina, Ayu and Yuta stopped talking. There was an awkward quiet, as seven pairs of eyes looked at him in surprise.

"What's wrong?" his best friend asked.

The dark haired boy did not waste time fumbling for words. "I…have to go." He put a hand on Kaji's shoulder, and nodded to him.

"Thanks for the dinner."

And with that, Hiroki Tsujiai left the restaurant, leaving his friends in a state of puzzlement and utter cluelessness as to what could possibly be wrong with him.

_There's only one thing wrong with me_, he thought icily, pushing the door open.

_And that's Nina._

The bells tinkled again as he went out…and then, nothing.

* * *

**Author's note:** Thank you for the comments, people! For the record, both Neurotic Onna and psychedelic aya got the answer : broken sky, or sirang langit. :D Yay! 

:D I hope you liked this chapter! A little bit of Maya, a little bit of Luna (that particular scene was a bit funny) and some Tsujiai angst. (There isn't a lot of that, though) Things pick up in the next chapter I think…so, yeah. Find any hidden things yet? A word of caution: please don't get attached to the pairings you see. :P

:) As always, comments greatly appreciated. Click that review button!


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